Photograph by Zagat

Award winning Indian restaurant Tamarind is poised to set up shop in southern California in October.

For 15 years, the Mayfair district-based high-end eatery has offered Londoners authentic tandoor-influenced Indian fare, sending them packing to gastronomical heaven.

At the Crystal Cove Promenade in Newport Beach, Calif., the restaurant will be named Tamarind of London.

In this 4,500-square-foot location comprising 140 seats, a bar and patio, the restaurant’s traditional Moghul-style cooking, which has earned it a Michelin star in the UK, is likely to include seafood and other dishes tailored to the American palate.

Shachi Mehra, with ties to New York’s now defunct Tabla restaurant, will now be leading the kitchen at Tamarind of London. Mehra and Tamarind’s executive chef Alfred Prasad have joined forces to develop a menu for the upcoming branch.

Owned by Indian Cuisine Ltd., Tamarind plans to establish several locations in the United States, where the brand’s fine-dining image will be slightly modified to upscale-casual, said Randall Hiatt, president of Fessel International, a consulting firm involved with the brand’s oversees expansion.

Other European eateries looking to enter the American market include the pan-Asian Wagamama brand, the Germany-based Italian dive Vapiano, and Italy’s Obika Mozzarella Bar.

Source: Nation’s Restaurant News

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